Rob Howley might have played down the chances of Dan Lydiate appearing for Wales during the Six Nations, but the Dragons believe he could soon be back in Gwent colours.

Rob Howley might have played down the chances of Dan Lydiate appearing for Wales during the Six Nations, but the Dragons believe he could soon be back in Gwent colours.

Wales caretaker coach Howley said the blindside flanker might be available for next month’s clash with Scotland at Murrayfield and the European championship finale against England in Cardiff a week later.

But he hinted, with Ryan Jones having been entrusted with not only the No. 6 jersey but the captaincy after taking over from injured Sam Warburton for last weekend’s triumph over France, it would be difficult for Lydiate to force his way back into the international reckoning if the Six Nations title-holders successfully complete their Italian job a week tomorrow.

“I think, on the back of the performance at the weekend, it’s about the players that are here rather than not here,” said Howley.

Lydiate was the official Six Nations player of the tournament as Wales last year charged to a memorable Grand Slam, but hasn’t played since the end of September after sustaining a broken right ankle against Edinburgh.

The 25-year-old will leave the Dragons at the end of the season with a bumper deal with ambitious Paris-based French Top 14 Racing Metro in the offing, but is determined to return to action as soon as he is given medical clearance.

He stepped up his rehabilitation this week by embarking on his first tackling session, but, with a big-money contract on the table, knows he cannot risk an early return and the threat of suffering a recurrence which would put his move in jeopardy.

Dragons forwards guru Rob Appleyard, the former Wales flanker, predicted: “I think it will only be a week or so until he is back. Dan is champing at the bit.”

Lydiate is expected to be a spectator at Newport’s Rodney Parade tonight as the Dragons look to not only aid fellow Welsh regions Ospreys and Scarlets in the dogfight for top-four finishes in the RaboDirect Pro12 by beating second in the table Glasgow Warriors, but close the gap on the Blues.

The 11th-placed Dragons trail their east Wales rivals, who are in action at Edinburgh, by 10 points, but that could close dramatically if they managed to notch up a fifth league win in 15 attempts during the campaign and the Blues go down in the Scottish capital.

The bottom Welsh finisher will miss out on a place in next season’s Heineken Cup and have to be content with being in Europe’s second-tier Amlin Challenge Cup.

Dragons crashed out of this term’s Amlin, but are desperate to make the potentially money-spinning Heineken and have rising morale thanks to Anglo-Welsh LV= Cup victories over Ospreys and London Welsh, and a Pro12 triumph over Italian club Treviso.

It’s the first time they have won three in a row in two years and they will face a familiar figure in Gerwyn Price when they take on dangerous Glasgow.

The hooker, who was almost universally hailed as the best No. 2 in the Welsh Premiership, was plucked from Dragons feeder club Cross Keys by Glasgow earlier this month.

Renowned ball-handler Price trained with his home region during the summer. but they preferred to continue the transformation of prop Hugh Gustafson to hooker rather than give the Markham product a chance.

He impressed for high-flying Glasgow during their recent win over Zebre and will hope to come off the bench and go head-to-head with Gustafson tonight.

“I want to play well to prove to myself I am good enough for this level,” he said.

“It would have been great to play professional rugby in Wales. but that’s just the way it is.”

On the difference between the Premiership and the Pro12, he commented: “I found the pace of the game faster than playing semi-professional rugby, but the physicality was roughly the same.

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